Create a Successful Blog

Growing a blog from the ground up is a daunting task. I am still nowhere near where I want to be in terms of readership, quality, or frequency of posts. However....I need to determine what makes a blog successful.

Success of a blog depends on several factors...

Measuring the Success of A Blog

1. Readership - I want my blog to be read and enjoyed by people. If I want to double my monthly views in the next two months I need to figure out what makes my readers 
                 a) want to read 

                        -and- 

                 b) come back for more....that is where number two comes in.

2. Quality - In my quest to create blog entries I should always put my best work out there. I appreciate the quality of the work I read on other blogs and when I produce my own blog I have to do the best I can to make my content reader friendly and enjoyable. I try not to compare my work to the work of others but no matter what, my readers are reading multiple blogs and finding their information in many places. I have to stand out by producing original and helpful articles.

3. Earnings - Being that my wife now is a stay-at-home mom and I am the primary breadwinner in the family our budget and financial versatility has changed. Having extra income each month via blogging income would help ease some of that. While this measure of success is concrete for me, I do not want to let it control what or how I write.

The Most Important Measure of A Successful Blog

QUALITY 

I believe that when the content is of a high quality, people will want to read the blog and will want to return to the blog for more information. 

After that, the other two measures (Readership and Earnings) will follow suit.

The Blogging Calendar

I am a LAZY blogger. I rarely feel like sitting down and writing or working on the blog. I would usually rather play with my daughters, hang out with my wife, watch television or play Minecraft (addicting).

A few weeks ago I sat down to decide....what do I expect from myself and my blog?

I realized that I need to create content more regularly. Being a teacher, I am a fan of schedules and planning. Checklists are my best friends.

So here it is:

A. Blog Entry - Once per week - This means that I want to write, edit and publish a blog entry at least once a week. I still have the freedom to create more entries or write smaller entries; however, whatever I write needs to be high quality.

B. Twitter - Three Times a Week- Tweeting is a micro event...It should be easy to post to at least three times a week so that it keeps me in the Internet universe in an active way. 

So....here's to success! 
(Clink Glasses Here)
Cheers!